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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 3, 1985)
Page 2, Portland Observer, April 3, 1985 South Africa Whites hang on to master-servant relations Editor's Note: AJter watching South Africa's white leaders debate Black critics on A B C 's Nightline, there can be little doubt that the coun try's crisis will only deepen in the months ahead. The Afrikaner leaders reveal themselves as prisoners o f un shakable mindsets in which Blocks can play only one role — that o f the dutiful servant P N S editor Louis Lreedberg. an anthropologist who was bom and raised in South Africa, recently returned fro m a two-week trip through the country, by Louis Lreedberg As South Africa descends into its most violent period in half a century, Americans have had a rare chance to glimpse its government leaders at dose hand through AB C's Nightline program. What they've seen has not been en couraging. Government critics were eloquent and passionate in their condemna tion of apartheid. More illuminating were the while leaders — all A fri kaners — who revealed how far away from a peaceful resolution South A f rica remains. The Afrikaner leaders gaved no hint they recognize that a political system based entirely on race is out o f step with a morality they profess to share with the Western world. Nor do they seem to understand what lies behind the growing Black outrage. When Bishop Tutu told viewers that, in spite o f his being born in South Africa, his government-issued passport lists his nationality as "u n determined at present," Foreign M in ister Pik Botha responded that the problem is Tutu's • he just does not want to vote in one o f the national states o f which he is probably a citi- __ »• ren Botha insisted that his government does “ not want to rob people o f their citizenship” even though that is ex actly what it has done to millions of Blacks who have been told they are not citizens o f South Africa but citi zens o f one o f the government's "national stales.” Just hours after 19 Blacks had been killed in the most violent inci dent in South Africa since the Sharpc- ville massacre, one o f tlie country's The Duke Report — Portland’s Urban Contemporary News Show. Our journalistic focus is youth, small businesses and Portlanders of color. Sunday. M onday, Thursday and Friday 9:00 p.m . -9:30 p.m . Portland's Honorary South African Consul ia a tfUnfl of the past. For the activists who were arrest ad, meetings with lawyers are still happening. leading opinion-makers, journalist Otto Krause, explained (he tragedy away by saying "these troubles beset all industrialized nations." When the country's most distin guished Black journalist Percy Quo- boza, who has been detained, ha rassed, his newspapers banned or shut down, wondered aloud why at the age o f 47 he stil cannot vote in his own country, Krause replied, "Percy, Percy, all you do is complain, com plain," as if the highly educated Quo- boza was a five-year-old child. Then Connie Mulder, once touted as a future prime minister, now head o f the ultra-right wing Conservative Party, reminded viewers o f the “ 61 coups” that have taken place in A f rica — all caused, in Mulder's view, by ethnic tensions between warring Black tribal groups. South A frica’s problem, Mulder said, was (hat it consisted o f people who "should nev er have been pul together." His solu tion? Subdivide the land. Mulder was at a loss to explain why whites should not also be divided up according to their ethnic back Above. Lawyer Kathleen Herron discusses upcom Ing legal action (Photo: Richard J. Brown) grounds, with separate “ homelands’" for white Afrikaners, Greeks, Ital ians, and soon. In his interview. Slate President P .W . Botha seized control from the start by saying U.S. viewers had re ceived "erroneous perceptions” o f South Africa. He then reeled o ff an endless list o f statistics to prove his point that Blacks in South Africa were better o ff than anywhere else in Africa. Botha claimed he has “ the cooper ation o f the vast majority o f Black South Africans,” that "n o Blacks are forced into the national states" (the homelands), and that 50 percent o f South Africa's best land had been given to Blacks. “ N o white minority has done more to raise the standard o f living o f the Black com m unity," he concluded, dismissing the recent killings a, Uiten- hage by saying "violence happens everywhere in the w orld." Indeed, he blamed the killings on the London-based South African Communist Party (outlawed some X) children. Corinto schools are very short o f supplies, say those who have visited the town. The school supply project has raised several hundred dollars and filled large boxes with paper, note books and other supplies. The sup plies will be sent to Corinto with Port land visitors, he said. Portlanders who have been there describe Corinto has a hot, dusty, im poverished town with a population of about 30,000. A huge crane dom i nates the harbor. Nicaragua’s major port, Corinto handles about 80 percent o f the coun try's foreign trade. In 1983, contras under the direction o f the C IA at tacked oil tanks on Corinto's water front. The huge fire that resulted caused the entire town to be evacu ated. In 1984, CIA-sponsored mining o f Corinto's harbor caused damage to many foreign ships. The W orld Court condemned the mining. Sister d ty supporters say that adopt ing Corinto will open people-to- people communication and help Nica raguans in their struggle against the contras. Detractors say that politics is be hind the Corinto campaign. Adopt ing Corinto would mean that Port- Jefferson High School students and ata« ramming from spring hiaali found thair building vandalized Ronald Griffin's assessment of who avar was raaponaibla for tha graffiti war "dumb." (Photo: Richard J. Brown) J land would be conducting its own foreign policy, they say. Others say that Portland already has enough sister cities (Guadalajara. Mexico and Sapporo, Japan). Whether the city council approves Lindberg's resolution or not, the Corinto campaign has already estab - lished firm sister ties wiih Corinto. In Northwest Portland. M etropol itan Learning Center, Portland's alternative school, has adopted Ruben Dario elementary school as its sister school. M L C students have sent let ters, drawings and poems to their sister school, and they are eagerly waiting for a return package And over in Southeast, Lincoln Street United Methodist Church is now sister church with the first Bap tist Church o f Corinto. In addition, Outside-In clinic in Southwest Portland may soon adopt Policlínica Gaspar Garcia I asiana in Not one o f these white political leaders remotely suggested that a uni fied South Africa, in which all citizens would have the vole, was a negotiable issue. Clearly, a chasm still separates the two sides. Nor did there seem to be any hint o f self-doubt. Under pressure, Afrikaner leaders only reveal a more exposed racism: Blacks are there to do what the white man wants them to do. Otherwise, they belong somewhere else — out o f sight, preferably in the homelands or in outlying townships. That is why there is little chance for anything but a deepening crisis in South Africa. Most white South A fri cans expect a classic master-servant relationship to continue to flourish in South Africa. © «VS Corinto as its sister clinic. Lincoln Street pastor John Schwic- bert received a letter recently from Rev. tim e r Barahona in Corinto. Barahona explained why his church supports the Sandinista revolution. “ We see God from history," he wrote. " H e freed the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, and he liberated Nicaragua from the slavery o f Somoza (Nica ragua’s former dictator)." Sister city spokeswoman Diane Hess said that several other U.S. cities have adopted cities in Nicaragua and other Central American countries, including Adam a, Georgia; Burling ton, Vermont; Boulder, Colorado; Seattle and Port Townsend, Washing ton. and Berkeley, California. The city council will hear public testimony on Corinto as Portland's next sister city from 10 a m. - noon, and from 2 - 3 :3 0 p.m. on Wednesday April 10. Seattle march organized by Ionita Duke GRASSROOT NEW S. N.W . _ A national mobilization around the rallying cry o f jobs, peace and justice has been planned by a coalition of more than 80 national organizations Locally, a num ber of organizations and unions plan to show support of the April 20th march in Washington with a sobdanty march in Seattle, Washington. Organizations have issued a four- point resolution: Stop U.S. military intervention in Central America; create jobs and cut the military budget, freeze and reverse the arms race, and oppose U.S. government and corporate sup port for South African apartheid and overcome racism at home. Natxmal sponsors include the Amer ican Indian Movement, National la w yers Guild, TransAfnca and the Na tional Black United Front. " T a i years ago this April, the war in Vietnam coded We recall that war and what it took to stop it. We know protest makes a difference When we stand with struggling people of the world, we have the strength to turn the tide," said the sponsoring organizations Activities to coincide with the Wash ington, D .C ., mobilization are underway in Los Angeles and San Francisco CHANNEL years ago, and now inacive within the country). “ I ’m going to keep order in South Africa and nobody in the world is going to stop me from keeping order," Botha proclaimed. brought to you every week by A M E R IC A N STATE BANK M t u e iK i i o t f t A i o te o s ir Spearheihng ihe Pacific Northwest Mobilization is a coalition formed to hdp organize people to attend the march in Seattle Chartered buses are standing by to transport Portlanders to the event. Suzanne Auger, a student representa live of the April 20lh coabtkm, said, "Young people's rights are bang at tacked with the cuts in education. It's time to come out and say something “ If ever there was a time for people to unite to defend their rights, this is it. We see continued increases in the war budget, Ihe nuclear arsenal and sup port to repressive regimes like South Africa. We see more attacks on our nghis and siandard of living. As Ronald Reagan enters his second ierro, we have a chance to speak out against inhumane policies,'' Auger added. Local labor unions are encouraging their membership to attend the March in Seattle "These issues are particu- larty important for working people and our unions,” said Sam Gillispie. Mike Hereford, and Nita Bmcggernan — all union officials. Bus tickets are open lo ihe pubik for S I5.00. For more information, call 231-0902 or 232-7206. Unite for Jobs. Peace and Justice! m s u r a n c i c o a a o a a t io n Your letters can be much better than phone calls and greeting cards at conveying the emotions o f the heart. Forget (he flowery prose. A few simple words, straight from the heart are the most effective. • Printing was introduced to what is now the United States in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Wrestler Ed (Strangler) Lewis lost only 33 out of 6,200 matches in his 44-year career. CityCouncil to vote on Corinto,Nicaragua plan by Bobert Lothian David and Elizabeth Linder feel a special affinity for Nicaragua, their ton. Ben, has lived there for I years, pulling his mechanical engineering skills to work helping to develop geo thermal and hydro-electric generating projects. Ben Linder visited his parents in Portland in December. He said that on the road to El Qua, the poor nor thern town where he works, teachers and other Nicaraguan citizens have been attacked and killed by C IA - backed contras. Even though he uses another road which is safer, reports o f contra at tacks have worried Ben Linder’s par ents since he returned in January. That worry hasn’t stopped David Linder from getting involved in a campaign to convince the city council to adopt Nicaragua's Pacific port o f Corinto as our next sister city. Commissioner M ike Lindberg's Corinto sister city resolution comes before the city council on April 10th. Lindberg started the sister city cam paign after his visit to Corinto in August. Linder, a pathologist at the U n i versity o f Oregon Health Sciences University, has organized a project to gather school supplies for Corinto 23 C H A NNEL We d o j o N o business w ith South Africa American Stato Bank AN INDEPENDENT BANK Head Office 2737 N. E. Union Portland, Oregon 97212 Support our advertiser« i . m ’*1 PORTLAND OBSER VER MRS. C’s WIGS M i n y w i g i p r i c e d Bt 96^ 9 j O _b_91S_ BRA' d S ♦4.60 "S umanh ^ i t «nd *■ C l O ’H t P ro p rie to r Purchase your Ebony Fashion Tickets Here *» N A O M S M S ANO«« DOUGLAS N A IA IK C O tr » M k M A t l w n u fi •7
